Harry s



(No Model.)

H. S. DOSH. ELECTRIC IGNITER FOR GAS ENGINES.

v No. 586,479. Patented July 13,1897.

WITNESSES //v m1 TOR a, Jhr/ yfi By A TTORNEYS.

as co, VHOTO-UYHO, WASHINGTON. u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY S. DOSH, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE F.' OBRECIIT AND GEORGE SOHEIHING, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC IGNITERfOR GAS-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 586,479, dated July 13, 1897.

Application filed February 1'7, 1897. Serial No. 623,781. (No model.)

T0 to whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY S. DosH, of Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Igniting Devices for Gas-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of an improved electric igniting device for exploding the mixture of air and gas in the cylinder of a gas-engine.

Electric igniters have heretofore been employed, but it has been necessary always to employ a heavy battery-power of from six to ten cells. I have devised a device whereby the electric igniter is made to operate successfully and with certainty and uniformity with a single battery-cell.

My invention is founded upon the following general principle and the observation of its application to a gas-engine--namely, that the electric spark meets with an increasing resistance in proportion to the density of the medium through which it passesand I have found that the reason so heavy a batterypower is required in gas-engine igniters is because of the high pressure (sixty pounds) at which the gas and air are charged to the cylinder, which makes a medium so dense that a correspondingly greater battery-power is required to force the spark through this medium, which is rendered more non-conductin g by its pressure and density.

My invention comprises a means of creating in the gas-cylinder a partial vacuum or reduced pressure between the spark electrodes and simultaneously transmitting through this more tenuous medium of gas and air the electric spark which permits a very weak battery of a single cell to produce the igniting spark.

In carrying out my invention I construct the two electrodes or contact-pieces as flat disks or plates, which lie almost in contact, with only a small sheet of platinum in the center of one of them as the spark-discharging point, and provide means for jerking one or both of the plates away from the other so quickly as to produce a temporary suction between them that reduces the gas-pressu re and its density, and thus increases the conductivity or reduces the resistance of the me dium to such an extent as to permit a spark from a relatively weak generator to ignite the gas, as hereinafter more fully described with reference to the drawings, in which- Figure l is a front view of the igniter, showing that part of it which is exposed to the air and gas in the cylinder. Fig. 2 is a back or outside view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a section of the same, showing its application to the end of the engine-cylinder.

In the drawings, A represents a plate having four holes a, by which it is bolted to the cylinder S, and having on its inner face an oblong projection A, that enters a slot of corresponding shape in the cylinder. In a non-conducting bushing c in the plate there is fixed and thoroughly insulated from every metal part a bolt B, which has a head inside the cylinder insulated by non-conducting washers, and having a metal disk as, standing in a plane parallel to the axis of the bolt and constituting one of the electrodes or contactpoints of the igniter. This bolt is secured by jam-nuts b 6' within the plateA A, which nuts are insulated by non-conducting washers from the plate and receive and clamp the circuit-wire b from the battery, the other circuit-wire being connected to any part of the metal of the cylinder or plate A. Just beside the disk 00 there is another one, 3 mounted upon the end of a crank-armDona rock-shaft D, passing through the plate AA and also through a hub A formed on the outside of the plate. At one end the plate A is extended in the form of a curved arm A and has secured to it, by screws or bolts, fiat springs E and E, which occupy positions upon the opposite sides of the arm A On the outer end of the rock-shaft D (see Fig. 2) there is rigidly attached a crank-arm D carrying at its outer end a cross-pin d, which lies between and is pressed upon from opposite sides by the free ends of the flat springs E F.

G is a tripping-bar which is given a longi-.

tudinally-reciprocating motion by any suitable part of the engine and whose function is to push back the spring E, then .pass by its end, and allow it to fall with a sudden hammer-like blow on the pin d. To permit this action, the tripping-bar G has a hub g playing between the lugs G G cast on the frame-plate, and has an inclined surface that bears upon the stationary incline G on the frame-plate. Now when the tripping-bar is advanced it first strikes and lifts the spring E away from the pin d, and then its incline hub g, striking against the inclined bearing G, rides up thereon and causes the end 9 of bar G to move sidewise, as shown by dotted lines, and allow the spring E to fly back, the momentum of the latter being increased by a weight 6 on said spring. As the bar G moves back a spring g brings its hub down again over the incline G.

The operation of this device is as follows: The plates or disks as y, Fig. 1, constitute the terminal contact-points of the battery and are normally out of contactwith each other. WVhen brought together they lie less than one-hundredth part of an inch apart, actual contact being made at the proper time by a thin platinum face .2 on the disk y touching the other disk 00. Now when tripping-bar G advances its first action, as before stated, is to lift spring E. The pin d, now being pressed upon by the spring F only, yields to this-pressure and turns crank D rockshaft D, and arm D until the disk y and contact-face z are brought momentarily in contact with the other terminal disk 50. Then as the end g of the bar G slips off the end of spring E the spring E strikes a hammer-like blow on the pin d, quickly deflecting crankarm D and the longer crank-arm D on the other end of shaft D, which jerks the disk 3 away from contact with m with such suddenness as to produce a partial vacuum or reduced pressure between them, and simultaneously with this action the spark passes from the platinum face 2 to disk m, directly through the center of the temporarily rarefied body of air and gas, which permits of an igniting spark to be certainly and uniformly obtained with a single battery-cell.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is s 1. An electric igniter comprising two electrodes having their ends formed as extended plates, and means for suddenly separating the plates, said plates lying sufficiently close together to cause by their separation a rarefaction of the gaseous medium between them substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In an electric igniter the combination of a base-plate, an insulated terminal contact arranged on the plate and in the cylinder, a rock-shaft journaled in'the plate and having a radial arm with another terminal contact within the cylinder, and a crank-arm outside the cylinder, a spring acting on this external crank-arm to rock the shaft and close the contacts within the cylinder, and a separate 7 contact-face and a shorter crank-arm on the other end, opposing springs acting upon opposite sides of the said short crank-arm, and a tripping device for one of said springs substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The electric igniter consisting of the combination of the base-plate A, insulated bolt 13 with terminal contact 00, rock-shaft D with crank-arm D and terminal contact g on one end and a short crank-arm D with pin (1 on the other end, the opposing springs E and F bearing upon opposite ends of the pin, the tripping-rod G with inclined face hub or collar g, the inclined bearing G, and spring g substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In an electric igniter, the plate A having hollow hub A and arm A in combination with the insulated bolt with terminal contact, the rock-shaft D with crank-arms on opposite ends, the springs E F mounted on the arm A upon opposite sides of the rock-shaft and arranged to act against the external crank-arm, and means for operating the springs E with a hammer blow substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. In an electric igniter, the plate A having hollow hub A arm A and guide-lugs G G having inclined face G; in combination with the insulated bolt with terminal contact, the rock-shaft D with crank-arms on opposite ends, the springs E F mounted on the arm A upon opposite sides of the rock-shaft and arranged to actagainst the external crank-arm, and the sliding rod G with inclined hub g and spring g arranged between the lugs G G2 and acting against the spring E substantially as I and for the purpose described.

HARRY S. DOSH.

Witnesses:

FRANK BARTSOHER, GEo. F. OBRECHT. 

